Starting from Scratch

Once again, I fell asleep at about 0010, woke up again at 1:20, 3:10, 4:20, and 6:00 and no more sleep after that. I just lay there and thought about stuff. Got up when it turned negative. Not particularly tired, just wanted to sleep more. Feet and legs hurt last night. Oh well.

I really like my new pair of glasses. I can see so much better, up close and far away. It was easy to read in bed and watch TV last evening.

I didn't get a single word written on the story yesterday. In between all the running around I was able to read a little of the book Story. It is a good book. It gets a bit lofty and jargonistic at times, but it comes back around periodically and I understand enough to draw thoughts and inspirations from it.

I will make some good headway today on the story because I keep reminding myself that I don't have to see the grand picture with all the meanings right now. The deal I made the other day was to write and get the bones down and then, after that, I can go back and add and subtract to make it look more like the story that stuffed full with meaning.

All I need is to understand the direction it is heading and then put my head down and type. It is very rewarding to close my eyes and type and put in a thousand words before taking a breath. (Not literally of course.)

The Elmore Leonard book is interesting. He doesn't break at chapters and scenes, he just plows ahead. You have to pay attention or you think you've skipped a sign post or something. He also writes dialog phonetically at times, depending on the character and changes viewpoint anytime and place that he wants. It's kind of refreshing.

I wonder how many millions of books you have to sell before you can tell your editor to leave your paragraphs alone. I guess it also helps to know what you're doing and be able to tell a story. Which means you have to have a story to tell.

I'm way down here now and my hands are feeling pretty chuffy and full of spring oats. I think I'm about ready to take on the big one. So without ado, or adon't, he we go.

More later,